In almost every country in the world, registering a company can be a tedious process if you don’t know how it works, especially for a new foreign company. In India, the CIN stands for Corporate Identification Number and is managed by the ROC, short for Registrar Of Companies. But once you got the CIN for your newly created company, what’s next? What are the conditions for a foreigner in India to be able to register a company with the ROC? We will try to shade some light upon the CIN number in India in the following guide below.
Can a foreigner register a company in India?
Let’s start with the big question. Yes, foreigners are allowed to register a new company in India, as long as they can provide an FC-1 form and the following documents:
- Photographs of all directors
- Apostilled Digital Signature Application Form (You can get it From Ebizfiling)
- Apostille Passport of all Foreign directors.
- Apostilled copy of address proof (Telephone, Electricity Bill, latest Bank Statement)
- Apostilled copy of Driving License
Are there any big advantages in creating and registering a foreign company in India you may wonder? As a matter of fact, yes there are! The main one is that a foreign company in India can retain 100% ownership of its shares, while in many other Asian countries, the latter is impossible.
And to be clearer about the FC-1 form mentioned above, this form will be used to establish the place where you will conduct business in India. Furthermore, this will determine which districts your company is part of, and who are the officials taking care of your account.
Finally, it is important to note that in India, you can’t register a company if you don’t have a real address where you will conduct business. That’s why the first step before doing anything is to fill that FC-1 form because a virtual address won’t do it, you absolutely need an office address with proof of ownership or rental beforehand.
What’s the job of the ROC in India?
The ROC or Registrar Of Companies oversees the administration of all companies in India and is supervised by the Indian Ministry Of Corporate Affairs. This administration is operating under the following laws:
- The Companies Act, 2013
- The Company Secretaries Act, 1980
- The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949
- The Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008
In other words, the job of the ROC is to make sure that all documents provided by a company that wants to get registered are compliant. Moreover, the work of the ROC doesn’t just stop at the registration, as the officials will also make sure that all regulations are respected once the company is registered. They will provide all the information required by the different parties involved in the process about the shareholders and directors of the newly registered company as well.
A step-by-step guide to registering a company in India with the ROC
Before you can even consider registering your company in India, there are a couple of things that you’ll need to do beforehand:
- First and foremost, a CA (or a licensed certifying authority) will have to issue a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) for your registration.
- Next, you will need to fill a SPICe eform in order to get a Director Identification Number (DIN).
- Now that you got your DSC and DIN, you are ready to create an account on the MCA Portal. The MCA is the Ministry Of Corporate Affairs we mentioned earlier.
- When creating the account, they will ask for your DSC and DIN, which is why you had to prepare those in advance. At the end of your account registration on the MCA portal of India’s government, you will be able to apply for the registration of your company.
If everything goes well, you will eventually get a unique CIN number for your company, which we talk about in greater detail below.
What is the CIN number in India?
The CIN in India refers to the Corporate Identification Number that every newly created company will get upon their valid registration on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) portal.
Once a company’s registration gets validated, the ROC ( Registrar Of Companies) officials of the region and district where the said company is located provide the CIN that is made of letters and numbers.
This alphanumeric code is made of 21 digits that are chosen in a very specific way. This is what we will explain down below.
What do the numbers and letters mean in the India CIN?
Since the CIN (Corporate Identification Number) is composed of 21 digits, one might think that these are all random. On the contrary, every letter/number has its purpose:
First Letter
To begin with, the first letter will either be an L or a U to show the status of a company in the Indian Stock Market. If your company is listed on the stock market, your CIN will begin with L, and if not, your CIN will begin with the letter U.
5 Numbers
There are many categories for organizing the companies into groups. Each category has its own unique 5-number code.
2 Letters
These 2 letters represent the state in which the company is operating.
4 Numbers
This is simply the year when the company was registered.
3 Letters
These 3 letters will show the type of company you are operating. Here’s a list of the different types below:
- FLC: Financial Lease Company as Public Limited
- FTC: Subsidiary of a Foreign Company as a Pvt Ltd Company
- GAP: General association Public
- GAT: General Association Private
- GOI: Companies owned by the Government of India
- NPL: Not for Profits License Companies
- PLC: Public Limited Company
- PTC: Private Limited Company
- SGC: Companies Owned by State Government
- ULL: Public Limited Company with Unlimited Liability
- ULT: Private Limited Company with Unlimited Liability
Final 6 Numbers of the CIN
The final 6-number code is just a unique number given to each company in India.
How to find a company’s CIN number in India?
You can visit the official MCA website and research the CIN of a company with the help of the provided filters.
